As You Sow v. CCL Custom Manufacturing, Inc., et al.

Posted: 08/26/1994  browse the case archive

Whistleblower and private Proposition 65 enforcer, As You Sow, reached settlement terms with CCL Customer Manufacturing, Inc., a manufacturer of adhesives, paints, primers, coatings, sealers, cleaners, lubricants and other products that AYS alleged contained chemicals listed pursuant to Proposition 65 and known to cause cancer and reproductive harm or birth defects, including toluene, trichloroethylene and methylene chloride. AYS commenced the action on August 26, 1994, when it served a 60-day notice of violation of Proposition 65 to CCL. After sixty days, with no public enforcer having elected to prosecute the alleged violations, AYS filed a private enforcement action in the Marin County Superior Court. On March 27, 1995, at the parties' request, the court approved the settlement, and entered judgment according to its terms.

The settlement required that CCL would provide specific health hazard warnings regarding the risks of cancer and/or reproductive harm or birth defects associated with exposures to the Proposition 65-listed chemicals in the products identified by AYS. CCL also took remedial action and printed health hazard warning stickers to provide its California distributors with remaining inventory of unlabeled products. The agreement also required CCL to revise the MSDS included with products containing Proposition 65-listed chemicals to include the warning information required by the settlement.

The settlement also required CCL to make settlement payments totaling $44,000. The settlement payments included a $14,000 payment in lieu of civil penalties to Video Project, a distributor of educational videos focusing on environmental issues to California schools and civic organizations. CCL also paid $8,000 in civil penalties, which was divided between the California office of Health Hazard Assessment ($6,000) and AYS ($2,000). In addition, CCL reimbursed AYS $22,000 for its reasonable attorneys fees and costs incurred investigating, litigating, and negotiating a settlement of the private enforcement action in the public interest.

Download PDF

It appears your Web browser is not configured to display PDF files. No worries, just click here to download the PDF file.